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Indonesian history preserved

Indonesian history preserved

17 January 2017

The Embassy of Indonesia in Canberra has funded the digitisation of the Berita Repoeblik Indonesia newspaper, which marks the formation of the newly independent Indonesia in 1945.

Assistant Director-General, Collections Management, at the NLA, Ms Amelia McKenzie said the newspaper, held by the Library, reported on the support Australia gave to Indonesian independence.

"It represents an important period on the history of both our nations," she said.

Ms McKenzie paid tribute to Indonesian scholar Mr Anthony Liem who initially approached the Indonesian Embassy after discovering the paper was not digitised.

"Mr Liem was working on the 2015 exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Armada Hilat (Black Armada), about the remarkable relationship between the two countries post Dutch rule. He used scans from our microfiche copy of the Berita Repoeblik Indonesia, but on discovering it was not available online, he approached the Embassy to request funding so it could be digitised.

"We would like to thank Mr Liem and the Embassy for making this happen."

Berita Repoeblik Indonesia can be accessed via the National Library's Trove service here.